Editing Claim (section)

== Acquiring Claim ==
Claim can be held by, and to, almost anything. It can be held by individuals, groups (although this can be problematic if the group is not united),<ref>“Why do they get counted together?”<br><br>“Why indeed?  Because ''groups'' can claim more easily than individuals can, if those groups are unified, and those three are,” Alexander said, looking like he was having too much fun. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/10 Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.5]]</ref> animals,<ref name=":5" /> even quasi-sentient concepts like [[The Abyss]].<ref>“This demesne goes unclaimed, belonging to none by right or establishment…”<br>[...]<br>“The Abyss has a claim to all places left unowned.  As agent of the Abyss, I move to expedite this claim,” Rose said.<br><br>The Barber’s head snapped up, looking at her.<br><br>“Johannes is finished, and with him go all ties that anchor this demesne to this world.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2015/02/28 Excerpt] from [[Judgement 16.2]]</ref>

Even minor, petty victories can help in a contest over ownership,<ref name=":1" /> although the spirits appreciate dramatic shifts.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Yes, when you emerge from hiding or when you want to ''use'' what you’ve claimed, that may be the pivotal moment that claim matters.  Everything can slip from your grasp at once.  The spirits do like their drama.  - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/10/ Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.5]]</ref> Examples of coup can include almost anything - [[gainsay]]ing, physical violence, verbal jousting, undermining reputation, family, or finances, etc.<ref name=":4">“Tell me, what are some fundamental ways one could count coup?” Alexander asked, holding the slip.  “Yes, Tymon?”<br><br>“Gainsaying,” Tymon said.<br><br>“Good,” Alexander said, pointing the slip of paper at him.<br><br>Lucy’s hand went up.  Alexander pointed the slip at her.<br><br>“Forswearing,” Lucy said.<br><br>“That, Ms. Ellingson, is a winner take all situation.  But the unwary can just as easily lose it all,” Alexander said, maintaining a slight smile.  “Be very careful.”<br><br>Avery held back from saying ‘drop a demesne on it’.  Which would have been ''really'' unwise.<br><br>As if he was reading her mind, he smiled, a bit lopsided, in a way that almost made a wink, waving the ticket their way.<br><br>Like he was saying ‘good, point for staying silent’.<br><br>“Punch them in the nose?” Hadley Hennigar called out.<br><br>“Do raise your hand, but yes.”<br><br>“And punching them in the throat?”<br><br>“I’m only going to count the one case of physical violence.  Anyone else?”<br><br>A hand went up.  “You said undercutting them verbally.”<br><br>“Yes.  Verbal attacks as well as physical.  Attacks on reputation, finances, family, connections,” Alexander said. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/10 Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.5]]</ref> Tactics such as the [[Rule of Three]] or openly declaring your intentions can cause the [[spirit|spirits]] to pay more attention to your coup, making them more impactful.<ref>“But these things can be subtle.  You may be left wondering how much of a difference it really made.  So tell me, how can you secure it, or better tie them together?”<br>Hands were going up all over the room, now.<br><br>“Rule of three,” Verona said.  “Driving it in three times.”<br><br>“Good.”<br><br>“Declare your intentions.”<br><br>“Very good, yes.  Swear you’ll get something and the spirits will be watching closer for each punch in the throat, verbal retort, and gainsaying.  Each will land with more emphasis.  Of course, there’s a risk there." - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/10 Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.5]]</ref> Even a failed attempt at something can be worth more than doing nothing, reminding the spirits of your attempts to claim the thing if nothing else.<ref>Any guesses?  Phrase it as a question if you’re not sure, but even a wrong answer is worth some credit.  To try and to fail is worth more than not trying at all.  If nothing else, it reminds the spirits you exist and you’re relevant. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/10 Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.5]]</ref> The [[Demesne]] ritual centers around establishing a claim against all who might contest it, a claim so strong that even the spirits can only enter your property given your permission,<ref>The ritual places a heavy emphasis on claiming one space, to a degree above and beyond even the influence of common spirits, who must be given permission to enter.  The ritual, explained in some depth in a future chapter, requires a challenge to establish this claim against all who would take it. - excerpt from [[Demesnes]], quoted in [[Demesnes Text]]</ref> and this claim extends to influencing mundane contests over ownership of the space.<ref name=":4" /><ref>To better allow for these private moments, and to help freeze the escalating rent in an expensive city, she claims her apartment. - excerpt from [[Demesnes]], quoted in [[Demesnes Text]]</ref>

In addition to ''taking'', claim can also be generated by more abstract things like rituals,<ref name=":2" /> inheritance, how long you've owned something, etc.<ref name=":0" /> Legal ownership generates a claim, which means in the modern world most "wild" spaces are claimed by the government.<ref name=":3" /> A familiar has some automatic claim to  their master's [[Demesne]].<ref>The biggest and most obvious issue is when the familiar enters the picture.  As an extension of the practitioner, they have a claim to some of the place of power. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/02/06 Excerpt] from [[List of Books#Demesnes|Demesnes]], quoted in [[Interlude 2.x]]</ref> [[The Abyss]] and by extension it's [[Scourge]]s have a claim to all unowned things.<ref name=":0" />

Receiving permission from the owner of a thing can grant one claim over it, or at least prevent their claim from conflicting with your attempt to use it.<ref name=":3" /><ref>The words ‘come inside me’ took a different meaning for Teresa on a spring break away from University.  Her lover was a foreigner with an amazing French accent, slender and gorgeous, the kind of guy she could bring home to her mom and shut the impossible-to-please woman up.  Turns out he was a faerie of the dark summer court, and an exchange of words that might be heard in any bedroom was the petition and invitation that let him slide beneath her skin. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/109ZDw9ZuRD56WYrcN3yYmbz_7KOXNow3cVb4t8MvzQ4/edit Pact Dice: Hosts]</ref>

Eating food while in certain realms is a known way for that place or that places owner to have claim over you, if [[Hospitality]] wasn't invoked of course.

[[Collector]]s(dealing with items) and associated practices such as [[cartographer]]s(dealing with realms) or [[Turnkey]]s (dealing with people) manage claim over their various foci on multiple levels,<ref name="PD">In terms of related schools, there are those who hold onto the visceral elements of claim, manipulation of form and function, and the arrangement of those things that have been claimed. The Bookbinder has a book of monsters or a deck of cards that trap visceral entities in a format that lets them be pulled out of thin air, unleashing them from pages of the book or a card. The Ritual Killer murders specific and karmically important individuals and takes trophies, with the idea of fulfilling patterns and gaining supernatural benefits from that pattern. The Cartographer collects worlds, often of a particular stripe, and arranges them together with an atlas or globe they craft. The Turnkey collects key people, into a working group, workplace, jail, or other arrangement, and draws power from the links while empowering those she has and confounding those she doesn't. The Excavator seeks artifacts, papers, and tracts with associated lore, to build a key picture that unveils more about the world, even to the point of creating new history or rewriting reality by finding fundamental truths. Finally, the Armatura seeks out armor, skins, and special wards that each confer immunities, with the intent of warding themselves against multiple kinds of harm.<br><br>Those who keep the tools aspect of things will dwell on the items and how to bring out the best in those items, often with an assortment of items. The Unsheathed will transform an object into another object with a possible translation in function, often creating weapons or handling short-term crises. The Hatcher draws out the spirits of items into immaterial or physical forms and lets personifications of the item walk around. The Heartforger seeks out or fabricates spiritually, echoic, or incarnate-relevant scenarios and events and crystallizes that event into objects they keep with them, and Chosen are gifted items by a higher power, often with less items but swiftly escalating and shifting power as they pass trials and represent their power. - Wildbow on Discord</ref> as do the various [[rapacious]] practices over what they're taking.

===Notable Practitioners===
*The [[Musser Family]]<ref>The Mussers - A large family with a lot of money, members are scattered internationally. They’re a loose sorcerer (dabbles but well established in their niche) family emphasizing war practices, coup, claim, and items. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/11/18 15.6 Spoilers], [[Keeping Tabs, Thunder Bay]]</ref><ref name=17z>“My family is a premier practitioner family studying the art of ''claim'', of possession, taking, collecting, and of rituals like this very one we’re within right now.  When it comes to these contests, there can be a vast weight of claim on one side.  Such an individual could unilaterally decide on a fight to the death, or a game of chess.  Closer to the middle, the individual with more claim could suggest multiple options, leaving the other party to decide one.  At the middle, they must negotiate.  This is how things are.”<br><br>“And I’m arguing we have you beat, sorry.”<br><br>“Would you argue it before a [[judge]]?  I know you think they’re biased in your favor.  But at the end of this, they ''will'' rule in my favor, even if they don’t want to.  Because the metaphorical jigsaw puzzle needs its last pieces, and because I’m from a family that’s studied, masterered, and firmly established the weight of claim.  They have made all that information available to me, and I am an ''exceptionally'' good student.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/04/02 Excerpt] from [[Gone and Done It 17.z]]</ref>
**[[Abraham Musser]]
**[[Reid Musser]]

===Notable Others===
* the [[Beorgmann]]
* [[Conte]]s
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[[Category:Basic Information]]
[[Category:Magic]]